Please don’t be offended, but there’s a really good chance that you’re absolutely terrible at negotiating with TV and/or radio stations.

I don’t care how good you are at negotiating other stuff, it’s an absolute certainty that you SUCK at negotiating with these guys.

The reason why is simple: You don’t speak their language.

Yep; media has its own “language,” and if you’re not fluent in it, you’re going to end up buying swampland in Florida when you thought you were getting oceanfront property in Maui.

It’s one of the main reasons you need to come to my 2-day seminar in Dallas on April 26 & 27. To learn more about the event click here.

Let me give you an example.

I’m working with a new client in Milwaukee. They got interested in radio and TV recently and started trying to make a buy themselves.

Here’s what they ended up with:

This is swampland, pure and simple. Let me explain:

After we researched the market, we determined that this is actually the 4th or 5th best radio station for them to be on. That might be okay if the DEAL was so good that they just couldn’t pass it up, but….

They have no way of knowing how good this buy is based on this document. It states that they will get 20 spots a week for 24 weeks for $800 a week. Is that good? Unless you know HOW MANY PEOPLE are going to hear those spots, it is 100% impossible to judge.

The Endorsement by “Elizabeth” (on-air personality) is way overvalued—it’s 20% of the budget. We found out she endorses FOUR companies simultaneously—that’s too many!

The sponsorship on the left and the list of stuff on the right is FILLER GARBAGE that is worth approximately nothing. If you don’t know that, it’s a problem.

When I called the station and had them send me the numbers on this buy (which the client never ever saw—by design of the station), here’s what I got:

The Cost per Thousand (CPM) looks pretty good at $5.26. But then you realize that they are padding this with a bunch of GARBAGE (circled above) and it’s not so good. In fact, it’s terrible.

It’s like going to the store and getting 4 pounds of bananas… 1 pound is fresh and ripe and good to eat, but the other 3 pounds are old and moldy and useless. But all you know is you paid a certain price for all 4 pounds.

Let’s ask them to take 3 pounds of moldy bananas out, and just sell us the 1 pound of GOOD bananas.

I did exactly that; I asked them to remove the garbage, which exposed what a bad deal this really was:
Boom, the price (THE REAL PRICE!) just MORE THAN TRIPLED to $16.30 (CPM).

When I told her what I wanted, she then pulled a fast one on me—trying to trick me:

Okay, look, the price is down to $9.99—a big reduction. Except she used 30-second spots instead of 60 second spots to artificially lower the price.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, they will pull this crap on you all day long.

I went back and asked to price it out for 60-second spots:

Okay, now the schedule is right, but the price is terrible. I would NEVER pay $14.04 CPM for radio for my clients.

Would you? Would you even know?

I sent this “lower the boom” email; note that I am asking for a price almost 2/3 less than what she had offered:

Three hours later, I had this offer in my inbox:

$9.99… the same price she had previously offered me for 30-second spots. That’s a huge reduction with just one ask. I am sure I could get 20% to 35% more off… but since I don’t really want this station anyway, I decide not to put the thumbscrews on her.

Instead, I focus on getting a better price from a better station, and I am able to get prices of $8.00 CMP and $7.56 CPM from two stations I like better…

Then I start to negotiate with TV stations.

Long story short, I negotiated with one of the best stations in the entire market to get on for $3.50 CPM.

The original deal they had negotiated was $16.30. I ended up with a deal on a better station on TV for $3.50.

That’s media buying like a boss.

That’s how I negotiated deals that are literally 4,500% better than you.

If you think your AGENCY is doing a better job than you could, you’re probably right.

If you think your AGENCY is doing a better job than I would, you’re almost certainly WRONG.

The problem with agencies is that they almost always leave the negotiation to some junior-level wannabe who sucks at buying media.

When I took over Jericho’s $1 million media budget in 2015, I was able to negotiate deals 20% to 30% better than what they had been paying.

And The Phones That Just Kept On Ringing.

Do Not Try This At Home.

Written by Rich Harshaw.

I’m serious. Sometimes the stuff that works is so specific to a situation that it’s not really replicable anywhere else. If you try to do or use what I’m about to show you, you very well might fail. You’ve been warned.

So… I recently gave you some examples of some radio ads used by a company in a small town. I got a lot of positive feedback from professional, small-town remodelers who said they could identify with that kind of company. I love writing and running those kinds of ads because they do such a wonderful job of capturing the company’s identity and communicating it with power, precision, and passion.

But sometimes—for reasons known only to myself—I stray from the middle of the road into some pretty strange paths.

Nordine Remodeling is one of those cases. I met George Nordine and his wife Sandy 4 or 5 years ago at a seminar. George is one of those big, burly teddy bear contractors; he’s a super nice, super honest, “never harm a fly” kind of guys. He ran (and still runs!) a nice little roofing and remodeling company in Normal, Illinois. I had a lot of fun using Aim ‘N Flame negotiation tactics with his Yellow Pages rep.Read More

Topics:

Radio convinces people you're the best choice BEFORE they even need your services.

The Premier HVAC Company In Wilmington, DE & Philadelphia Tapped MYM’s Radio Marketing Expertise To Expand Their Brand’s Footprint & Prestige.

“How Am I Going To Know If This Works?”

Written by Rich Harshaw.

Mark Aitken, co-owner and President of Horizon Services of Wilmington, DE, is one of the most intense individuals I have ever met.

He’s the kind of guy that you’d HATE to work for if you’re lazy, disloyal, sloppy, or lack initiative. He eats people like that for breakfast—by the handful.

Good thing, too. His intolerance for anything other than “A-Game performance” has allowed him to grow Horizon Services into one of the biggest and most well-run HVAC companies in the country with over 200 trucks, 8,000 monthly transactions, and nearly $100 million in sales. This is a company that does EVERYTHING right… and in the rare instance where they don’t, they find out why, fix it, and get even better than they were before. His competition doesn’t stand a chance. Mark Aitken and his superstar-caliber team are in the process of literally monopolizing their marketplace.Read More

Keep It Simple, Conversational, And Authentic… And You’ll Be Surprised At How Well Listeners Respond.

Written by Rich Harshaw.

Note: This article is part of Monopolize Your Marketplace’s ongoing “Client Success” series. All of the information is real and current; please respect the privacy of the companies mentioned; they don’t want to be overwhelmed with questions and comments.

Okay, so you’ve decided part of your contractor marketing to advertising on the radio. You’ve picked and negotiated your stations, and you’ve committed to at least 6 or 12 months to give your ads some time to speak to your target market and nurture them along. Now comes the hard part—writing great ads that will move the needle.

But how do you write an effective advertisement? What elements need to be present—and what should you avoid? Glad you asked! Here are my top pieces of advice for writing great radio ads:

POINT 1: Start With Identity: A common mistake is to make your radio ad a “menu board” style ad. Think about a menu—it shows what’s for sale and how much it costs. This leads to ads that say things like “We’re a locally owned company that can help you with whatever remodeling projects you have… from energy-saving windows to durable siding to award winning roofing.”Read More